Biography

(María Aparici (Valencia, Spain) studies at the School of Applied Arts in Burgos and later moves to the USA where she completes her training, graduating in interior design from the New School for Social Research of New York (1988-1992). Back in Madrid, she continues to study painting with Amadeo Roca and finally obtains a Master’s degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts at Madrid’s Complutense University (1998).

She has solo exhibitions in Davos, Switzerland (1998) and in Cincinnati, OH (2001). It is in the US where she participates in a number of group exhibitions, to cite but a few in New York, Ward Nasse, Montserrat and Chelsea Galleries (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). She also showed some of her work at New York’s Artexpo (2001).

In Spain she has shown work in solo exhibitions at the Victoria Hidalgo (2000) and Orfila galleries (2004, 2006, 2014, 2020, 2025), as well as Galería Agurcho Iruretagoyena in Pamplona (2004) and Akka in Valencia (2005).

She participates in a variety of art fairs, such as InterArte Valencia (2000), Arte Santander (2001), Arte Sevilla and Arte Madrid (2004), FIABCN Barcelona (2016 and 2021). In the more recent years, Aparici develops a wide array of activities, showing some work at exhibitions like Women’s Essence, the Pons Foundation Madrid (2018) and especially on an international level in London, Berlin, Pescia and Milan, New Delhi, Basle, Lisbon and Rome.

Aparici has been distinguished with numerous prizes, such as Premio Scienza del Museo d’Arte e Scienza of Milan (2015) and recently, in 2019 and 2020, with the Michelangelo, Botticelli and Frida Kahlo Prizes in Italy where she has been invited to participate, in 2021, in the next Florence Biennale. Also, she was named “Artist of the Year” by the Palm Art Award.

Aparici’s work can be found in corporate and private collections, such as Germany’s Daimler Collection, Investcorp of Bahrein and Cushman & Wakefield in Madrid.

Artist Statement

My paintings reflect the tremendous power women hold, moving between bold form and abstract emotion as we navigate the interconnected challenges of what it means to be a woman today.

Across my canvases, I work with oil using strong colours, large shapes and broad brushstrokes to convey women’s strength, audacity, vulnerability, independence, sensuality, shame, spirituality, fear, courage, community, solidarity and isolation. Sometimes all at once.

La Procesión Va Por Dentro, 2025, OC, 146x114cm

By combining these female experiences, I wish to honour and celebrate all women everywhere, and encourage them to keep fighting for economic, social and political equality. No matter what.

www.mariaaparici.com
https://www.instagram.com/maparicivon